Let's begin in Phoenix, AZ. We left late to pick up the rental car (I don't actually know how to be on time for anything. Ever.) and then had a fun time explaining to the girls at the counter that yes, I actually did need the booster seat that we requested when we made the reservation, and no, we couldn't drive to LA without one. Once they had grown tired of our three exhausted, rather feisty children attempting to destroy their offices, and eardrums, they said everything was good and we could wait outside for our car to be driven around the front. We said our very sad goodbyes to my sister and her family and headed out to LAX. Without cell service. Or data. Or a map. While I won't say it was the easiest (or brightest) thing I have ever done, I will say that we made it to the airport with hours to spare. Woohoo!
Now, I am thinking, we shall breeze through the airport with our newly acquired TSA Pre-check :) :). Or, we won't because they don't have TSA Pre-check at LAX apparently. Seriously? Ok, well the line isn't that long. Until they declare that they are going to "recycle the line" whereby we are all marched around back to the beginning of the line and through the super fun ropes maze again. This time we get to go past the sniffer dog which causes Conner to test my grip strength while he veers off toward the dog with the single mindedness of a six year old who sees an animal in need of petting. One with multiple signs saying "I am a worker dog, do not pet me". Next up is the dreaded "bag check" which takes 20 minutes of waiting and 15 seconds of looking only to discover that the mysterious items are the squeeze pouches I brought for Conner's snacks (which are also in my other bag which is not pulled for a bag check. Just saying...). I promise guys, those are only hazardous to the upholstery in my car. Usually when being waved around over someone's head because they "thought it was empty". Oh well, just less time we have to spend sitting at the gate right? We board the plane and the flight is blissfully uneventful. We all sleep for much longer than I anticipate which is fantastic! The flight was 11 hours and I would say we all slept for more than half of it, probably almost 8 hours for Conner.
Fast forward to Fiji. The smell when we got off of the plane was delicious. Flowers and rain and chirping birds :). There were talented musicians playing while we waited in the customs line which helped to entertain Conner and made them my favorite people on earth for about 15 minutes. Then we were told that our plane was delayed leaving Sydney and we would be leaving 3 hours later than expected. Damn. What to do in a tiny airport for 6 hours? I have a feeling this must happen fairly often because not only did they have a children’s play center, they also had about 50/50 chair rows and monstrously oversized ottomans to be utilized for much needed napping. It ended up being a relaxing few hours of playing, reading, and walking back and forth to the bathroom. Conner found some very nice little friends who were waiting for the same flight as us so they could get home to Christchurch. They played together for hours, and I learned how to play two songs on Conner’s ukulele. Probably the best layover I’ve ever had. We all spent the next four hour flight watching movies which was just fine with me.
Flying into Christchurch in the day was pretty cool. I have always like the way a place looks from miles up in the air :). Easy landing and we were finally done travelling!! Well, almost. We got through customs without too much trouble, but because our flight was delayed we missed our rental car and had to rent another car from the airport branch so we could drive out to the house where we were staying. *Sigh* let the unexpected expenditures begin…
Driving… right. Or rather, LEFT. When we went to Jamaica, in a most cowardly fashion I let Gregg drive the entire time, so this was my first experience driving in a left side country. Holy moly! Wrong side of the road and wrong side of the car, I’m just happy it was an automatic. This was definitely a rub your belly and pat your head type of experience. I had to use all of the pitiful brain power I had left after traveling for 29 hours and crossing the International Date Line. It’s amazing how strongly your body tries to resist turning right into the far lane. Luckily we only had to make about three turns total so we all survived. There was a hotel restaurant open in the tiny town where our Airbnb rental was and our hosts were most accommodating with our late arrival. All settled in to our new home for the next month, we passed out and slept for a full 11 hours.
